a federally registered "Designer"
Service Mark
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Testimonials
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2007 Testimonials
&
scroll down to read lots more testimonials collected over the years from
our Wilde friends and customers!
Read more about guitarist Reggie
Young and btw, his 57 Strat is equipped with the L-280S pickups
for nearly 10 years. Thank you Reggie.
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"Grant says his D'Aquisto plays easier and sounds better than any guitar he has ever had. He says the neck shape and size is just right for him, allowing smooth playing; he describes the tone as funky and pretty at the same time. Aside from mother-of-pearl
initials ("GG") inlaid in the fingerboard, the only
other modification specifically for Grant is a specially-made
pickup that was installed for him in place of the DeArmond pickup
which came with the guitar. Bill Lawrence--at one time a design engineer with Gibson-- offered to make a special low-impedance pickup for Grant, just as he had done for Wes Montgomery. Grant accepted the offer and says his special pickup sounds better than the DeArmond, but adds that only Lawrence could explain why."
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The following quote is found in Guitar Player
Magazine Roy Buchanan Article/ August 1985: |
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New postings printed in green
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Becky-- Bill has done what I thought impossible: topped the L280S! The L280S is a great, versatile pickup for a variety of styles, with a super-smooth response, but when I installed the L200S, Oh Boy! Pure vintage rock & roll when played clean! They immediately made me want rock around with Ollie Vee! Turn it up and they long to go to sweet home Alabama and to cry & sing with the Sultans of Swing. Dial up a slightly darker tone, switch to the neck pickup (with a little of the middle pickup blended in via the blend knob in Bill's Hendrix Strat Mod), and the traffic lights turn blue while the wind cries Mary. Stick the middle pickup through a phaser into a smoky, purring Marshall and they can take a long time crossing the bridge of sighs with all the wonderful sustain they pick up and transmit to the amp! Absolutely BRILLIANT! :^) If there was a Nobel Prize for Guitar Tone, Bill'd have my vote! Thanks! Sincerely, Dale V. Z. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Bill and all at Wilde, As I discussed over the phone with Becky the day before yesterday, I'm writing you to share my experiences and thoughts about your pickups, ands also regarding the current market situation here in Sweden. I would say that the biggest strength with your pickups (so far I have used the L500XL and the L500R), is their incredible versatility. I have never before or after being introduced to your pickups with the K500 model that was given to me when I bought a used guitar several years back played or heard a pickup this broad in its tonal range. Most pickups from established, good brands, can sound just fine and good for one specific style, but then can never span across genres like yours can. This is most likely the reason why manufacturers such as Dimarzio and Duncan have such a large variety of pickups, to suit all sounds. But with you pickups, I have never felt a need for anything else, then span across Blues, jazz, metal, rock, fusion, and whatever I trow at these pickups, they deliver. The tone of your pickups is another strength they possess. Your pickups have such an amazingly crystal-clear bottom end, so what ever I play, its never gets muddy, But rather packs a clean bluesy punch at all times. As for the mids, I find them very well balanced, and in the upper register, thus preventing the annoying indistinctness that many “metal” scooped pickups generate. The highs are amazing too, then never wail or scream, but rather it’s like comparing a metal singer with Pavarotti. Then just sing with unparalleled strength and claritygiving amazing sustain and controlled feedback when I want it. Since first starting to use your pickups,
I have found that my playing has evolved a lot. I have found myself
crossing genres much more effortlessly with your pickups, and this
has put a mark on my playing. I feel much broader in my playing
today then just a few years back. And although the pickups (or instrument)
in itself doesn’t enable me to do this, it has strongly motivated
me to search for new tones and genres. In short, simply picking
up a good instrument with your pickups in them makes me a better
player. Historically, I have often found myself struggling against
the instrument, and struggling with the sound I play with, but now,
I am propelled by it, driven by it and I am always motivated to
play whenever I plug-in. For this I feel I owe you a great thanks,
you helped make a better player, and I would the first to testify
that your pickups are truly unique and unlike anything else on the
market, by far!! I am not alone in feeling this way either. Throughout the last 2 years or so, I have
encouraged many of my friends and students to try your pickups out,
and have even ordered for them as well, and let me tell you… EVERY
single one of them are as awestruck as I am. Their playing styles
range from jazz fusion to hardcore death metal, but they are ALL
equally satisfied with their sound. This, if anything is evidence
of a versatile product. With that said, I want to mention the current
situation here in Sweden. The awareness of your product here are
next to zero unfortunately. In the 80’s (when I discuss your pickups
with the older generation) they were fairly well known, but mostly
only for blues, and metal players. With the current generation,
its unfortunately not this way at all. This is caused mainly by
the sales of the "Bill Lawrence USA" pickups here in Sweden.
People think (and believe me, this is in 9 out of 10 cases) that
YOUR pickups are the same as theirs, they believe its the same company.
These pickups have given you a very bad reputation as well, since
they are far, far inferior to your products. They sound very thin
and weak, they feedback a lot, and they can only play the metal
style even half well, but then again, so can most pickups with that
amount of distortion and scooped mids. There is no tone, and as
soon as you roll back on distortion or go clean, it’s a mess. They
truly sound like some second rate yard sale pickups. Because of
this, once people have tried their pickups that are available here
in Sweden and been disappointed, not only will they think that YOUR
pickups are crap as well, whenever they hear the name Bill Lawrence
pickups mentioned. But, even worse then this, they will spread this
opinion along to their friends, in chat communities and so forth,
thus undermining your entire potential market segment here in Sweden. I am a member of many such chat communities,
I do a lot of clinics, and my video are downloaded throughout the
internet in the thousands ( 18.000 downloads on my last clinic video
alone just from one server, so the total count with file sharing
programs will be significantly higher than that). This gives me
the opportunity to talk about this problem, and try to raise peoples
awareness regarding the difference between your pickups and the
knock-off pickups. Whenever there is a question about recommending
pickups, or especially when people ask about BL pickups, I make
an effort to lay out the truth for them. It might not be much in
the bigger sense, but its something. And when the word spreads,
more people will be aware of this, and that will help. I will also
mention this in a segment in my upcoming instructional video, that
should be able to reach at least 100.000 people here in Sweden ,
since it will be quite unique, and I will launch it for free for
all Swedish guitarists. I hope I haven’t ranted on for too long
in this letter, but I am the kind of person that expresses my thought
in essays rather then in single statements. I want to thank you
once again for doing what I consider to be the most versatile and
best sounding pickups in the world, and I also want to wish you
luck in your ongoing legal processes. You will win, because you
deserve to, and because YOU are the original, and ANY musician or
guitarist worth the name, will NOT be fooled by the knock-offs once
they have tried the originals. Thank you and I wish you all the best. Never give up!!! All the best. Sincerely, R.L. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Bill and everyone at Bill Lawrence, It took about two months after receiving
your pickups before they could finally be set in place. Thank you
so much! Not original, but very sincere. You are a group of really
special people: you make amazing pickups, provide super-friendly
customer service and ship stuff perfectly on time -- I wish I had
100 guitars that needed pickup replacement only to have a good excuse
to keep in touch with you :) (Well, having 100 guitars is kinda
cool, too...) You transformed the voice of my yellow Jackson
altogether, a whole metamorphosis from a bug to a butterfly as it
were. I was so surprised when I first plugged it in after your pickups
( L-500R and L-500XL) were mounted. The tone has dramatically improved:
warm, round, powerful, alive. With a dirty set you can use the volume
know to shape the sound and go from a gentle crunch all the way
"up to 11". I love using the same distorted sound and then play
with the volume to achieve different flavors while playing a tune.
Your advice about opting for the L500R on the neck proved to be
just what the doctor ordered: gorgeous. With this pickup and a clean
set I can even fake being a jazzer! :) And yesterday I received
your complimentary post-order card: what a nice thought! You should
come over here to Holland sometime and give the locals a couple
of lectures about customer care, an aspect of life that is almost
unknown here. I am spreading the voice about your pickups as often
as I can. Unfortunately, there are so many guitar
players here in Amsterdam who only know the big names/mass producers,
and have no idea what they're missing out on by not trying out your
products. So far I am noticing that the sound of my guitar with
your pickups is much better than all the words of praise I could
possibly utter -- Thanks again and please don't change a bit! Kindest regards,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bill and Becky, Thank you so much Becky for the 500L recommendation for the neck position after I told you I wanted to series/single/parallel both pickups on my SG. Before I had maybe three usable sounds from the guitar but now WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!. Not only does the 500L sing with infinite sustain, it gives me great jazz tones which my amp set on clean. The 500XL......wow...... the responsiveness is just amazing. I've never experienced so much difference in tone by how hard I attack the strings. With a massive gain setting, I can go from almost clean by fingerpicking to over the top distortion without changing settings on the amp. The two month wait was well worth it! Thanks, Jun ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Guys, I just wanted to drop a line to thank you for putting up with my impatiance in waiting for your fine product. Fact of the matter is, if I had known how great these pickups sound ( J-45 set) , I don't know if I could have stood the wait. I have NEVER heard or played ANY pickups that sound or respond like yours do ! I have played Bass since I was 11 years old(35 years), and I have played everything from Epiphones to Warwicks. There is nothing out there that I have listened to that comes close. It is simply the most responsive and true sounding pickup made. I have named them High Definition pickups. The thing is, they are just as great for the sound they don't make. No hum, no buzz. WOW. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but I have never been so impressed with any music equipment. I am proud to play "The Masters" pickups 150+ dates a year, and as long as they are available, and I'm able, I will always do so. You all keep up the great work, and thanks for such a great product ! Doug Neese ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hi Becky, I was able to install the 710's this last
Sunday and have since got to put them through their paces both live
and in the studio. These are wonderful units and I really can't
believe I've waited so long. I did a little EQ tweaking as well
as goofing with the PU and string spacing and am completely loving
what I'm getting. The extremely low noise is another whole thing
and I'm looking forward to how that is going to change my playing.
With the single coil pickups, I always was aware of the noise sneaking
up on me and I would accordingly back off at that point. Not having
to backoff is so new and so cool that all I can say is that it represents
new found freedom. Thank you for being patient with my impatience
and congratulations on a really fine product. Sincerely Yours, Mike Smith _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, I recieved the Pickups (in good condition) about a month ago, but it took a while before I could put them in my guitar and experiment with them. So I'm sorry that my reaction is a bit late. I put them in my backup guitar, a cheap 70 dollar strat. modell from Korea. On my guitars, a Fender stratocaster with Lace gold/gold/silver and this cheap backup I only have/use a volume pot (250K) so I had to experiment with a parrallel resistance to ge the most beautiful sound. I ended with a res. of 150 K so the total load for the elements is about 100K. For me this give me the best sound with this guitar. It is indeed very important to experiment whith this, because it makes a lot of difference in tone. Other bodywood will need another resistance I think. Then I experiment with the pickup hight. I ended with the pickups halfway the pickupquard and the strings. This done it was time for compare my Fender with Lace and the BL280/280/290 guitar. I've done this on my computer straight in the soundcard, with my very fine sounding Pod (Line6) on a P.A. ampl. and straight in my Vox and Fender amps. I'm 53 years old, so I know a bit how a Strat has to sound (i.m.o.), H.B. Marvin, J.Hendrix, M. Knopfler in his earlystrat day's, S.R.V. and so on. In every situation the cheap korean stratclone with your pickups sounded way out better than my Fender with Lacepickups. The Fender/Lace sounded as if the amp was covered with a blanket. Sustain is much better. You also can see that on the computer as you look at the waveform. The "in between" sounds are excact how they have to sound. The enveloppe of the waveform is just the good one. Good attack and than quick release and long sustain. The bass response of the 280 is very good, almost sounding to me like a piano. The middle and hight's are very bell cristall clear. Overall tonal balance is impressive. The response on the way of picking the strings is excellent. The 290 at the bridge is very good and can sound very mean but not earpearcing like normal bridge elements. I like these pickups much better than the Texas Specialls, which I had before the Lacepickups. I still have a sample of these on my computer. The Texas Special sounded very harsh to me and didn't cut through the mix of a band at all. And as bonus NO HUMM HUMM, even in front of my computer! Excellent! This means no hum anymore on stage due the stagelight's electronics etc!! So far I'm very very satisfied with the pickups. The only thing I didn't try yet is playing with my band. The lace elements cuts really good through the mix with much pressure and I'm curious if the 280/290 do the same. If they do I have to rebuild my Fenderstrat and through away the Lace and order some new pickups at your very fine Fam. Factory. So please thell your husband he did a wonderfull job to develope these pickups and your whole family to make those beautiful products. I'm very grateful that I got these pickups from you! Sincerely, Frans ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Bill, Becky & Shannon, Got the L-298SL yesterday (thanks for getting it here quicker than I expected) and put it in one of my favorite strats today. Well, all I can say is that it does exactly what I hoped it would and even more. I got that big, clear bottom that I was looking for along with just the right amount of top end without ever being harsh. Fantastic pickup! It pushes just hard enough (great with distortion) for what I need and integrates beautifully with my L-280's too. This guitar is definitely complete now. Thanks again, Gregg M. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ (It started with this e-mail:) Hi - A couple of months ago I called and talked to Becky about tele pickups. I had specifically asked if a regular tele pickup cover would fit, and she said "yes."Because I was going for the classic look, as well as getting a good tone, I ordered the pickups BECAUSE Becky said the tele neck cover would fit. Well . . . they don't. I have a tele that I wanted to retain its classic look but now can't. I'm really disappointed that, for whatever reason, I was told they would fit. And I'm also disappointed that Bill (again, for whatever reason) thinks it's necessary NOT to make the neck pu a standard size. If you aren't going to make it the correct size, at least make a cover for it for those of us who want to keep the vintage look. Not everyone likes the no cover look. I don't. So now I have to get rid of the neck pu and find one that has a cover. I wish I was told a cover doesn't fit BEFORE I purchased the pu's. Thanks, G. ( I answered with this reply:) G., You can send the pickup back to me and I'll reimburse you. I think that there was a misunderstanding. The pickups we make could never be used with the cover because one of the features of the L-280TN is that it is the same size as the cover. This means we can make a pickup larger than the ones that fits inside the cover and therefore, we can offer a Tele neck pickup replacement that has a fuller, richer sound than standard Tele neck pickups which use a cover. Some people like that feature and others don't. Like Bill says, he prefers tone over look. But we understand there are many people on the market who are very conservative and want the traditional Tele neck cover look on their guitar. So, please just return the pickup asap and I'll reimburse you. Our address is: Bill Lawrence Design 1785 Pomona Road Unit D Corona, CA 92880 Thanks, Becky Lawrence ( And the winner's are.....our customer, the L-280TN and his guitar!) Hi Becky - First of all, I apologize for being . . . irritated about the tele neck pickup cover.I did want the traditional look (and I do). However, after seeing it installed and the TONE . . . well, I shut my mouth. Tone wins over looks. Yeah, it would have been nice to have the cover. But I don't want to give up this tone. So forgive me for being irritated. Tone wins. :-) Thanks, G. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear BILL AND becky, After calling all local and regional music stores and outlets, I finally remembered the name Bill Lawrence. I purchased two of his pickups in 1979, so when I saw the name, I went to his site. After puchasing 2 L500R's and a L280TN for my Fender Telecaster, I found them to be unbelievably smooth sounding and the best I have ever played. Had a technical problem, and called you, and ended up speaking with Bill. After a long interesting and rewarding conversation on various topics, I found that he was a storehouse of history, expertise, and knowledge, as well as being a fascinating person. He solved my problem, and the time I spent with him was most rewarding. Anyone in this day and age that will take time like he did with me is extraordinary. PS:HIS PICKUPS ARE KILLER and I would recommend them to everyone who takes their music seriously. Thanks so very much, Bill. Leo W. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky and Bill, A few months ago, I bought two of your L280S pickups for a 1963 Fender Duo-Sonic which I have. Today, for the first time (because the guitar has been in another state!), I got to try the guitar with the new pickups, into a nice loud Fender tube amp. So I plugged the guitar in and started playing and my immediate reaction was "WOW!" The pickups are amazing. The have the most gorgeous punch and sparkle of any pickups in any of my guitar (I have a lot). Also, I didn't realize how much juice they've got! These single coils are actually louder than the high-gain humbuckers in my favorite Gibson SG. They also distort beautifully to get the most amazing lead tone from single coils I have ever got so far (They surpass my G&L's magnetic field single coil pickups for this). All in all, they are excellent pickups and I could not be happier with the quality and great service you all provided!! Thanks so much for making my vintage Fender sing like it should. Sincerely, Sidd _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky, Last week I used those L-490s you built for me on a recording and gig. They sound great and are exactly what I had in mind. In the next day or so I'll order another pair. All the best, Scott ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Installed my new Strat pickups today and I'm delighted. ( L-280S)They sound fabulous. It's like having a new guitar. I've owned my strat for five years and this is the first time I am able to use individual pickups; the noise from the factory pickups always made it impossible. Just wish I had know sooner. A very satisfied customer John ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, Just to let you know that I got the new pickups ( L-450's)and installed them this weekend. ( into an L6S) They sound great. I couldn't use the pickup rings because the old pickups had a three screw height adjustment and a correspondingly larger cutout, but the old rings worked out fine. I enjoy the guitar much more now. Thanks, J.B. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bill and Becky, Just wanted to let you know that the Tele pu's I received from you, L-280TN/L-290TL, sound amazing! They truly capture all that the guitar can give which is just great because you can just tailor the sound to your liking with amp settings and/or picking techniques. Very versatile! ... Now granted I installed them into a MIM Fender Tele and I don't have a vintage Tele or Fralin or Kinman pu's to compare them to but hey I don't need them cause I got the sound I wanted thanks to you. Now I need some recommendations for pu's for my Ibanez AM73 which is a small bodied 335 type guitar. I'm looking at the 450's and the 490's. The stock pu's are somewhat muddy and just don't have that clarity of a single coil that I like. I play mostly blues and love some of the tones that Robben Ford gets from his Robben Ford Model Fender and Gold Top Les Paul w/P90's. Can you mix the two, that is a 450N and a 490L? ... if so what would the middle pos. sound like? ... I'll probably be calling you soon. By the way your cable and connectors are just great also! Best of health to all of you and thanks again, Ken B. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Bill, and Shannon, I received the pickups last week and they made their live debut tonight. These are the best Tele pickups I have ever heard, maybe just the best pickups in general. ( L-280TN/L-290TL) Wide open, great dynamic range, sensitive, responsive to volume and tone controls, lovely high end, all the twang you want, and a mean growl if you need it. I could go on and on. The icing, of course, is the absolute silence that comes with them in a shielded guitar. They were so worth the wait. I have a couple guitars with P-90s and I'm hearing that you'll be coming out with a noiseless P-90 in the future? Count me in. A very, very satisfied new customer, A. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Well after the month wait, I finally got
them!! I was shocked to see the package laying on my counter, and
ripped the strings off my guitar and installed the pickups in 30
minutes. WOW! I was impressed with artificial harmonics I could
get out of the L500XL!! The more I turned my amp up the greater
it sounded. I could totally NAIL the Cowboys From Hell palm mute
crunch, and all the notes come out nicely when I blast the amp,
I can can hear everything i play! And the L500R is awesome for sweeping
and is nice for chording and the blues! It really is a clean sounding
neck pup not overally bassy, but it still sounds like a neck pup!
I'll be playing some church songs with this pickup on the May 22nd
and the rehearsals are sounding great! So then I cut the cables,
very thin, flexible, and they sound awesome! They totally cleaned
up the sound on my clean channel, it wasn't so muddy! My friend
bought the other 25 ft of the cable and I called him up and he said
out of nowhere, "Dude, these cables make my amp sound so much better!"
So I am going to keep my business with you, I'm glad I took the
risk and sold the ...... Mike K. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi,This is leonard at Paschini custom guitars.
I just finished two guitars and used Bill 's and your L450 -- sure
sound good thanks. I only use Bill's pickups on all the guitars
I make. Why spend all my time building and not use the best pickups
on the market. Thanks again. Leonard Paschini Custom Guitars _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky I've got the pickups ( L-500's) a few days ago and yesterday I had the opportunity to test them after installing. And I must say they are incredible!!!! These are the best pickups that I've heard, and they are what I was looking for for long time. Thank you very much...... -- Best Regards, Dmitrij ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi. Well, I installed your L-280TN in the neck of my Telecaster and was extremely pleased with the result and left my opinion for some of my fellow Muddy Waters owners on the Fender Forum: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=338188&offset=539 And this leads me to the next step, putting
one of your marvels in my bridge. I’m not quite sure if I sure if
I should be ordering the Looking forward to talking. Best Rgds, Tom L. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bill,Becky,Shannon. I've had my 280's just a little shy of two months.I did a review on Harmony Central.com after having them just a week.It is said that to truely give a fair review you should have the item awhile.I now agree with that.everything I said in my review which was all positive I still stand behind but after having the 280's this long I can say they are great.I wanted a noiseless strat sound. I got that and so much more.I have a Squier that has regular single coils and a AXL Deluxe Player that has the 280's. I can get the Axl to sound like a strat and more the wide range of sounds are very impressive I can't get the Squier to do that .My friend and bass player at my church is also impressed.There are other noiseless strat pickups. I've read reviews and heard soundbites but no other noiseless or for that matter regular single coil pickup can cover as much sonic ground as I hear from my 280's- THE SWISS ARMY Knife of GuitarPickups. Thank you. Stephen G. Sr ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bill n’ Becky, Great web site! I have been
playing guitar/ music for over thirty years, and “Pickupology” was
very informative and enlightening. The pickup height adjustment
guide using a nickel or two is the simplest and best way I have
seen. Your debunking of commercial pickup web site language was
classically comical! I also love your philosophy on business. If
we could just get corporate America to think that way, but then
we’d lose our edge! I have now adjusted all my guitars, humbuckers and single coils alike. What a difference. Thanks, Roben P.… Rock on! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, When I called you on Monday, I had only
played the L-490 through a small solid state practice amp by myself
& was very impressed w/ this pickup. So impressed, that I ordered
another one! Last night, I practiced with my band w/ my regular
full setup (tube amp; effects etc.) & was utterly blown away. The
output was crystal clear, no noise at all. I was able to hear rmyself
through the mix without having to increase my volume like usual.
It was as if I sounded like a better guitar player. I cannot stress
enough how happy I am with this pick-up. Please pass this message
along to Bill & thank him for me. Sincerely, Dave A. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, I've just fitted the L280S pickups that you sent me. Superb! Have you ever thought of selling the Hendrix mod kit? I've finally got the capacitors, but it struck me that you could sell the mod. kit with the pickups. Also, Do you have recommended heights for the pickups from the strings? Thanks Harry ( UK) Yes
can add the capacitors with the pickups, just please be sure to
mention it when you order! Also, here Bill's very famous nickel
method for pickup height adjustment found on our website in Pickupology
-- 3.
The distance between pickup and string is a very important factor
for output and sound. As a general rule for a starting point: For
the bridge pickup - put a nickel on top of the pickup under the
high E string and play the highest note on that string. Adjust the
height on that side of the pickup till the string touches the nickel.
Repeat the same with the low E string, but use two nickels on top
of each other. If this gives you too much output, you can reduce
the height slightly. Don't forget that twice the distance will reduce
the output by about 60%, and the sound will lose some lows. NOW,
you can adjust the neck pickup to match the output of the bridge
pickup. For the sound test, use stage volume. Of course, our international customers may even request a couple of nickels with their order too! Best regards, Becky ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hello Becky:This is Stu S. in Anchorage Alaska.I
was wondering if you have any XR-16 wide mount for a Carter 10 string
pedal steel guitar pickups in stock,and if you do how much is it
including shipping"First class USPS" .I took this picture at the Namm
show in 2001in Anaheim,I thought that you might like
it.I knew Bill a little bit when I was a fat little 15 year old
growing up in New York.Bill used to have his shop downstairs at
Dan Armstrong's in Greenwich Village. Thanks, Stu P.S Thanks for sharing that great shot of Bill playing! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Today I received my latest Wilde-Package
:-) I already dropped the L-490 into my Les Paul Classic and am
VERY pleased with the result (I must confess, I didn't expect anything
else ;-)) I'm, looking forward to watching the DVD and improving
some other guitars of mine. Thank for your work! Best wishes, Vito C.! ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I would like to thank you for the pickup I recieved. It is a L500-XL humbucker. This is simply the best sounding pickup I have ever heard. Install was a breeze. The clarity and definition are what struck me immediately. Then I noticed it was completely noise free. With my old pickup, it hums when I sit in front of my CRT monitor. All my guitars do this and are all outfitted with aftermarket pickups. After using the L500 XL for the past few days to record with and just jam on it is now my favorite pickup ever. It was entirely worth the wait. I will not take anymore of your time. Please keep doing what you are doing. James Peters ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I ordered your pickups for my telecaster
and have been so pleased that I now want to order your pickups for
my strat. I have a G&L Legacy that gives great sound with the stock
pickups but produce a bit of noise. I would like to order two single
coil pickups for the neck and middle that are a fair version of
vintage sounding pickups, good quack and clean sound (Think Hendrix
Wind Cries Mary) HOWEVER for the bridge pickup I want the hottest
you've got, I use the bridge only for heavy distortion times but
I want to maintian the look of a single coil so am opting out of
a bridge humbucker in the strat. Can you please let me know which
pickups you would suggest and then I will call with my credit card
number. Oh, I also need these in Cream color not white.... Thanks!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky and Bill: I had my 280 s's installed in my strat and
they are awesome!!! My tone control works per notch on the tone
control now. I am not sure that they set them correctly however
as I think that they were thinking they were more like regular strat
pickups. I think I read where you can set them fairly close to the
strings. Can I do that myself, is that the screws right next to
the pick-ups or should I have the repairman do it for me since I
just paid for the work. Thanks so much, I feel like I have done
business with anAmerican legend. God bless, Bob T. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Wow. Thank you all very much. What a change
from the stock pickups. Every thing about the tone and clarity is
true! I feel like I have a new pair of guitars. ( L-450FN and L-490GL)
I will give you a ring next week to get the ordering details for
a strat the needs some help. Thanks again for the hard work and
great product at a great price. Steve F. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I just wanted to drop a note to tell you
that the 495 and 490 pickups I put in my SG have added sparkle and
depth to it’s tone I didn’t know was possible. They were worth every
minute I had to wait for delivery. Thank you so much, Luke ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky, I purchased the cable over a year
ago and it's outlasted all the fancy stuff I had before it. Thank
Bill (and yourself) please! Two questions: What is the gauge of the cable? What would be the shipping charge to 77584? I think it was $7.50. Thanks, Paul ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Bill and Becky, Holy crap!!! I just
got my pickups today, and I spent the evening installing them. I
AM IN LOVE WITH MY GUITAR AGAIN!!!!! The sound is so alive, and
expressive... I've never heard my guitar sound this way. Thank you
guys so much for the time and care that went into this. I could
not be happier. There is just such a sense of aliveness in the sound
on these pickups... it's like the difference between playing a keyboard
and playing a piano. I connect so much more with my guitar's sound
now. Thank you, Becky, for your on-target recommendation for the
pickup configuration, and thank you, Bill, for the care and hard
work that you do to make your pickups worth people taking the time
to recommend them to their friends. If your know who Oscar Muro
is, you can thank him for turning me on to you guys. I'll be sure
to send you a link to my band's website when I get a track recorded
that features my new guitar sound! Take care, and keep up the good
work! Sincerely, ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I first met bill in ny. in the early 70s. He turned me on to piezo tweeters.We then met at some trade shows. I think in canada. Then in summer of 82, I stopped by your shop on sunset. I was building a guitar from parts I got at charvel from grover jackson. I had some pick ups that I got from guitars r us ( howie hubberman) you traded those duncans and gave me a 500 and 500xl you said tell me how you like em when I finally built the guitar. I called but you had closed so I would like to tell you thanks. They are great and still sing. I'm thinking maybe I should get some strat pickups for my fenders.Whats good and hot,quiet and retains the strat tone? What are those samarium noiseless all about? Thanks again Doug C. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hey there Becky. I'm sorry I didnt get back
to you. I had to go out of town on short notice for work, and I
have been swamped ever since. I did adjust the pickup like you suggested, and I have to say that it is the sweetest sounding pickup I have ever played. I had been using a Dimarzio X2N for years and years and up until trying out the L500XL, it had been my favorite. I cant believe how quiet this pickup is and how responsive it is to different picking styles. You can pick harder or softer and get a totally different sound. I can get an extreme metal type sound but roll off the volume a bit and get a creamy classic rock sound. I've never played through a pickup that nails a ZZ top sound as well as a Pantera sound! I will be ordering more pickups in the future for sure. I wish I had tried this pickup sooner! You have a good one and like I said I will be ordering more pickups as soon as I get back from Iraq. In addition to a top notch product, your customer service is the best I've seen and I've seen a lot! Jay ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, I just wanted to let you and Bill know that I love the new low impedance cable. I've used George L cables for years and still think they're a fine product, but Bill's cable raises the bar - especially with regard to highs. I couldn't be more pleased. Many thanks. Sincerely, Michael S. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Bill and Shannon, Many Thanks
! Your pickups arrived 2 weeks ago, and they sound better than I
supposed to. I can wholeheartedly say : this is the Sound I was
waiting for my Telecaster. ( L-280TN/L-290TLThanks again ! Sincerely, Michel C. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky and Bill Lawence, I just wanted to thank you for the great Pickups and your fast sending of the second pair. Now I just installed them on my first self build guitar and I was wondering how they would sound (in comparison with the test setup). The first time I played them I have to say that the pickups sound so great and I´m delighted with the very powerfull and greatly balanced sound. The pickups do perfecly fit this guitar (I wasn´t sure cause it´s the first self made...). Although the body is made of a (special kind of) mahagony, the guitar develops a very balanced, brilliant and fine bright sound. I´m not a good player but at least the guitar is great now :) Thanks a lot for your support and with best regards from germany, Christian Finally a snapshot (Some Details: Self made
Mahagony - Body Rockinger-Neck (Maple/Rosewood) Schaller Floyd-Rose
Tremolo w. locking nut L500L (w. single coil split via push/pull-poti)
L500R 3-W Toggle S. Master Volume and Tone) PS: Please excuse my english, sometimes I don´t find the right words Hi Bill, Becky and Shannon, I just wanted to write a quick note to say
thanks for all the help and the great pick-ups. I have been soldering
wires all week. It is just amazing all that I have learned just
absorbing bits and pieces of the information contained in Bill writing
and on the forums. The wiring diagrams are just great and wow....
with Bills pick ups you get a whole new love for the actual wood
tones and sustain of the natural instrument. I have found In this
age of amp modeling, high over drive and mega watt amps you tend
to lose track of how much of the true tone comes from the piece
of wood you hold in you hands. Bills pick ups remind you of this
fact and truly let the insturment shine. The clearness, articulation
I am getting at all levels of over drive, metal or clean are wonderful.
No tones stepping on each other, every note of every chord rings
clear as a bell, even at the farthest edges of metal mayhem. And
the clean tone on my Strat set up are wonderful, everything from
Stevie Ray, Jimi or Eric Johnson. These pick-ups are everything
and more then I could imagine, I can see how they truly add to and
become an integral part of any great Players signature sound. Thanx again, and already planning my next order. Christopher B. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Bill I just found your site & I am really glad I did. You have cleared up sooo many issues in just one viewing of your site. I have used your products for many years & I'm putting together a new strat type ax so I thought I'd see what's out there. Let me also say that it was nice to see your whole family involved in your biz. Very cool & very comforting to know you are that down to earth. Peace to you & some day I hope to meet you. Joe M. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky, I received the pickup last Thursday and installed it that night. I have to say I'm ecstatic with the difference in tone the new L-500XL gave my aging Washburn N4. At lower volumes, the guitar rings like bells, and cranked it simply shreds! Thanks a ton! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hello becky and bill :-) I connected my pickups
on the guitar ,it is a real pleasure of playing with! Very very
good pickups!!!!!! You have magic hands! At least two of my friends
will order yours microphones! I joined a photo. And there it is
a link so that you can put a head on my name: http://bodybuilding.forumactif.com/ftopic340_Alexandre_AUGUGLIARO.htm
Thank you :-) Best regards ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Just to inform you that I received my parcel and everything is OK. PUs sounds fantastic and thank you for very good service. Best regards, Davor ( Russia) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky and Bill ; The L-490's are incredible
the tone and response is awesome . I haven't been so excited about
playing in a long time . The first cord I played blew me away it
is so nice to be able to get the a guitar to respond the way it
should . Becky I want to thank you for all your help and patience
you have given me on the phone. The same day my 490's were in my
ax I ordered a set of L-280-S pups I can't wait to start working
with them . Again thank you for making me feeling like a friend
. I am looking forward to talking to the both of you in the near
future . Have a Happy Holiday and may GOD bless your whole family
. Scottie from P.A. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Just wanted to thank you for the very personal service. I installed my pickups last night, 280 neck and middle, 290 bridge, and they are fantastic. I thought that they'd be good, but it was such a dramatic difference from the stock G&L pickups! Thanks again!! Justin V. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hey Bill & Becky, D. J., Buttermilk KS. (just south of Coldwater
KS) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky and Bill, Thank you so much for sending me the 490s.
They are undoubtedly the best sounding pickups I have heard. Articulate,
sustaining and defined! I received them much earlier than anticipated
and I truly appreciate it! They sound great with the 500K pots in
the Agile swamp ash Les Paul copy. No problems with excessive treble
at all. This guitar sounds so much better than my old Gold top.
The response to my picking and playing dynamics is excellent. Thanks
again for your quality product. I will look to you and Bill in the
future for my pickup needs. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bill and Becky, I recieved the L500land I
am very impressed with this pickup.It has a tone unlike any other
pickup I have tried.It does everything well --harmonics, gain sounds,cleans
up nicely, sounds great tapped. It just has a clearer type of vibe
but still sounds great as a distortion pickup.It reminds me of a
quality hifi speaker that doesn`t color certain frequency`s very
natural and pure sounding. Robert S. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ BECKY & BILL My order of 3 pickups arrived
safely today. The wiring diagrams that you supplied are genius!
Thanks so much! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Bill & Becky, Just droping a line to say
hello to my favorite pickup makers. I've been offline forever it
seems & we've moved to Brookhaven. Saving up some cash for another
500XL...so hopefully ya'll will be getting a check soon. Later ya'll, Dustin S. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky, Sorry, I was at a dodgy interent cafe on a tour in France. Wasn't sure if that email worked or not! I arrived home Monday to my wonderful delivery of new pickups. They sound fab! Just wanted to say thank you very much for your great service and help. Iwill definitely use you guys in the future and be recommending Bill Lawrence pickups to anyone and everyone Ican. Take care and thanks again. Pete ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky and Bill Lawence, Thanks a lot for your support and with best
regards from germany, Christian (Augsburg - Germany) Finally a snapshot (Some Details: Self made Mahagony - Body Rockinger-Neck (Maple/Rosewood) Schaller Floyd-Rose Tremolo w. locking nut L500L (w. single coil split via push/pull-poti) L500R 3-W Toggle S. Master Volume and Tone) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky, Bill and Shannon, Many Thanks ! Your pickups arrived 2 weeks ago, and they sound better than I supposed to. I can wholeheartedly say : this is the Sound I was waiting for my Telecaster. ( L-280TN/L-290TL) Thanks again ! Sincerely, Michel C. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi people. My name is Terry Bates (aka: Jammer). I'm a non-profit (heh) banjo player and big fan of your humbucker pickups. I choose your brand after reading a couple guitar electronics books in my early pursuit of "heavy metal banjo" in the mid 1990s. I just wanted to pass the word that I have used a set of Bill Lawrence humbuckers (rails) in my Gibson RB250 5-string banjo for many years to produce a hard rock sound from it for years. I hope you dont mind me pluging your pickups for use in banjos, as I did here (message forum): http://www.banjohangout.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14825 . Please let me know if you rather I not steer banjo pickers your direction and I will gladly remove any reference to you. It's just that players often ask me what hardware I used to get "heavy metal banjo" (mp3s- http://music.download.com/jammer/3600-8503_32-100083241.html)- so much that I figured I should clear it with you before linking to your site. I have only linked to your site once, so far- in the single message thread above at the world's largest banjo player's website - banjohangout.org. Thank you for your time, and if you ever want a Heavy Metal Banjo player's testimonial of your guitar pickups I would be happy to share a favorable experience. Peace. Terry B. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ I enjoyed reading your site. Good information. thanks. Mike ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky and Bill. Thanks again Bill and Becky, thanks for the help and producing more than an excellent product. I will be building yet another masterpiece with your pickups in it very very soon. Look for another order from me. I am sure I will call and say HI! Post this letter, I needed to hear something like my story when I was looking! It will help! Thanks, Jay R. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Bill and Becky, I already mentioned awhile back how great the 450s with Q-filter sound in my Heritage 535, now I'm writing to tell you that I finally finished building my custom Telecaster equipped with 280TN/290TL setup. It's a special guitar in part because of the 1pc quartersawn maple neck and 1pc Swamp Ash body giving it great resonance, but more so because it has a colored french polished finish. I've attached a picture so you could get an idea of how it came out. The net effect of the design with your pickups is a noiseless guitar with a lot of character and great clarity while still maintaining that classic Telecaster flavor. Thanks again for your work. Best Wishes, Steve ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky, Received the cable/plug package.
I am lovin' these things! Makes my Strat sound like it has a really
good quality preamp installed. I've always had problems turning
down the volume control due to the fact that I'm left-handed and
wire the pot backwards. I don't know if right-handed folks have
the problem to the degree that I do or not, but I lose an awful
lot of high end when I turn down despite the cap I have installed
to treat the problem. With your cables I'm now able to use the middle
range of the volume control that was off limits before. KUDOS! Oh,
I got a discussion started at Ampage about your cables. It started
out about George L's - that was before I discovered your cables.
Here's the link in case you want to check it out. It's called 'Who
makes the best guitar cable'. http://www.firebottle.com/fireforum/fireBB.cgi?cfg=misc&forum=open&enter=go
Gene ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Bill, I want to tell you that meeting you and of course your wife at the FWCG was the high point of my experience. The day that we spoke, first for long hours outside the University Union(on subjects of impedence, capitance and resistance) was so educational I wish I had studied electonics and physics from you. Second the evening we were able to speak for a few brief mionutes about other more serious social and political topics, during the intermission ofthe Pat Martino-Les Paul concert were even more informing and uplifting. You sir, are a true intellect and thinker. I consider meeting you to be one opf the greatest honours of my life. I hope that one day we will be able to continue and discet these topics in even greater detail. You distinguish yourself in a world of undistinguishable men, and while I will continue to allow you the luxury of being human there certainly are subjects that I would consider you to be not only the ultimate authority but albeit the only living authority. I wish you great success in your venutres and hope that our paths cross again one day. I will have a few pictures of you posted on my website (www.visionguitars.com). I thank you for your time and brilliance, if you ever again think of taking an apprentice I would gladly volunteer for such an opportunity. Your Friend Jay Norman ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, Bill, and all. I'm late in getting this "thank you" note to you. Thanks for the order! As usual, the pickups are great. I've been messing with electric guitars since 1965. I now have the sound I want. The guitars sound the way I want and that cannot be stressed enough. I am fitting all my own instruments with Bill's pickups and expect them all to sound great. What is "great"? "Great" is no added "color", noise, etc. Clean, clear, and dynamic. Soft when I want it, powerful when I want it. True story. Thanks! My customers are now convinced. More orders are definitely in the future. B. Styler ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Becky, I received my pickups intact ( L-280S)and put them on my Strat and... could not believe my years. This guitar never sounded so good. All those opinions on the Internet about your pups are true, and I must say it's worth waiting. This is my favorite guitar from now on. Thank you very much and all the best. Regards, Marek W. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, The pickups (L-280S set) arrived, and I had
them installed. I just want to say that they are best-sounding Strat
pickups I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I've owned
quite a few Strats over the years, including a couple of '63 L series
which sounded wonderful - these pickups of Bills however are their
equal in tone and of course they're quieter! I have another guitar
- the pickups are nice but not in the same class as Bill's. I'll be doing quite a high profile short reunion tour of the UK, Europe and the US in October with a band I used to play with and I'll certainly be telling people about these pickups. Regards, Neil C. Here's more information about Neil http://www.neilclark.com
____________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky Just want you to know that everything I was
expecting to get on my new guitar after installing the 280TN and
280TL plus the Q filter its what i have now and I'm very happy.
My guitar sounds real nice,sweet and strong --gives me just what
a guitar player needs to play in a very confidence way. Nice clean
sound , nice distortion ,excellent respond -- in a few words JUST
GREAT. Congratulations! Thanks to you and Bill. Cesar G. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky & Bill, I can't thank you enough for getting my L-280'S delivered to me in time to play at my daughters wedding. They are everything I hoped they would be. They are extremely musical and bell-like in tonality and I can great distortion sounds without the 60 cycle. I will be using my Strat a lot more in recording situations now that I don't have to noisegate and compress the heck out my guitar. I wish you and Bill all the success that you both deserve. I'll be ordering a set of Tele pickups as soon I pay off the bulk of this wedding. Thanks again, Donn montoya _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Bill and Becky, Thank you for making such a superior product that's affordable for the working musician. Siincerely, _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Mr. Lawrence, A completely satisfied customer.God Bless
you, your wife, your children and your entire working staff, Oscar M _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hello there, I ordered a P-46 pickup from you. I got it
back in July. Right after that, my band (www.deacondark.com) starting
getting gigs and my pickup upgrade project was put on the back burner.
Well, today I finally pulled it out and put it in my fretless P
that I have been wanting to upgrade this whole time. Basically,
this bass is a mixture of MIM Jazz fretless neck with a MIM Standard
Precision bass. Most of the hardware had been upgraded and now the
electronics are as well. All I can say is, "WOW!" I was expecting
better sound (why else would I get a replacement pickup), but I
was not, in any way, prepared for the jump in quality (or output
signal) that your pickup would provide. The sound is just absolutely
wonderful. Thank you for making such a great pickup. Take care, Glenn "SmittyG" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ I just wanted to let
you know I received my pups(280S) and I think they are some of the
best sounding single coils I have ever heard. I truly appreciate
all your hard work and dedication to quality. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ So. Here's what happened
today. I got my Ibanez RS-335 back last night, after having the
Bill Lawrence L500-XL installed. It's about 7:30 in the morning
and I fire up the Triple Rec, plug in the RMC-3 and the Vibe, and
warm up a bit at low volume. Fingers are stiff and sloppy--hey it's
early!--and the guitar sounds brighter and tighter to be sure. Harmonics
are sounding tasty. Digits are warming up. So I drop into Channel Three on the Mesa, punch up the volume, and go for it. Holy Shitstorm Hellfire. Sounded great. Blew the stock Ibanez V-2's out of the water (which I expected) and just SLAYED the Duncan Invader I have in an identical guitar. Much tighter, much more alive, I guess is a better term. So I'm sanrling along and just leanin on the Teese. Oh man what a blast. I'll wager my neighbor was furious, but hell, who cares. He surely does not know the Opiate of Tone. I decide to bark out some riffs, test the thud capabilities, I guess you could say. I use 11-52 strings, regular tuning, but tuned down one whole step. My God, it's was like having your brain scooped out by a spatula, whipped in a bowl, and poured back in. Great, clean, goodtime fun. I look at the clock, and I was just tranced for a half hour. Trying to bounce out of work eary tonight to get a little more noodling in before my brain shuts off for the day. Great product, sounds magnificent. If you
play heavy stuff, or have a friend who does, I'd suggest this snarl
of magnets and wires to anyone looking for a change. Going to look
into his Strat setups. Replace the stacked Duncan Vintage pup's
I have in there now, perhaps. Anyway, worth the wait. Glad I made
the choice. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky and Bill- Why discontinue the 250's? They are great
pickups and solidly go head to head against all the other "wannabes"
of your quality. Please, bring them back... And a tele set up as
well. I've got an upcomming tele that I would love to deck out with
a 250 tele set and rail on my friends Tele with his Bardens. Joe
makes a solid pickup... but for $125.00 a pop, they aren't that
good. My Heritage H-150 with your set of L-500s
(R and XL) is very happy with your pickups. My friends are always
impressed with the tone of the pickups, and the fact that they can
drive down the wha pedal and do a pinched harmonic that can break
glass if you push it right. Yet back off and lay down some T-Bone
Walker by backing of the volume on the guitar. Also nice to know
that the tone knob actually does something besides make a pickup
sound "woofy" or asthmatic. Bring back the 250's! Jer ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Becky; I recently had the good fortune
to buy a mexican strat that had been outfitted with Bill Lawrence
pickups with the "Hendrix mod" three-position selector. I am knocked
out by how noiseless AND toneful they are! Absolutely the nicest
pickups I have ever owned. I plan to order some of your pickups
for my tele as soon as I can. Thanks, To the Honorable Lawrence
Family.....I am totally amazed at the sound of my L-280 set with
the Jimi Hendrix wiring (w/ vol. mod.). Along with the reverse headstock
and bridge pickup, THE sound was there. All of a sudden, I was a
better guitar player. The tonal variety is astounding, and the pickups
are smoother and more articulate than my EMG-ZWs. Everything else
now sounds a little mushy. You have spoiled me. I want to thank
you for all your assistance, too. I have learned so much, and realize
it would take 5 years of college, just on capacitors and resistors,
to dent the ignorance. To me life IS learning, and you've really
brought life to me. My dream guitar is now a reality. I'll send
pictures when I can. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear bill, Once again THANKYOU and Bill Lawrence pickups
will now be installed as a standard for customers! Cheers, Leon __________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky. How are you guys adjusting to your new place?
I need to order two pickups. I need an L-500XL in Zebra (black and
cream bridge) and an L-500C in Zebra as well (black and cream neck).
These will be going in the same guitar. I need cream colored pickup
rings for both pickups. Should I be calling you with this order
instead? I'll still pay through paypal. Let me know if you need
me to call or if I can just go into paypal and pay there. I have to say that since I have started
building guitars (about a year ago), I have used Bill's pickups
exclusively unless the client wants something else specific. I cannot
tell you how impressed I am with these pickups. As good as the pickups
are, I appreciate the service and personal attention that you provide.
You guys are a true inspiration to someone trying to get a small
business off the ground. THANK YOU!!!!! Jim G. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Bill & Becky Thanks to your pickups a 1990's Peavey tele-clone
has now become the telecaster of my dreams. This guitar was always
felt good in my hands, but it didn't sound nearly as good as it
felt. The pickups were weak and microphonic. In short, when I plugged
it in and turned up the gain on my amp, the guitar sounded like
a cheap acoustic over a PA system.Naturally, this took a lot of
the fun out of playing it. Fortunately, this is no longer true.
After the pickup transplant, it's now the first guitar I reach for.
I find that by playing around with the guitar controls and the amp,
I can get or come very close to any sound I can want. I never realized
how versatile this guitar could be. It was also an honor to spoken
to both of you. I think I learned more about pickups and sound amplication
in a telephone conversation with Bill, than in six years of guitar
playing. While I can't pretend that I have any idea of how to build
or design a pickup, I appreciate the fact that your products are
scientifically designed rather than based on myths and old wives'
tales. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Becky: I am writing
to thank you for your recent excellent customer service in making
the repair to my strat pickguard. You were great to work with on
the phone. I really appreciated your help. Thanks again. Jim Mrs. Lawrence, Just needed to thank Bill for all the info and insights on your web-page. I've never been a "gear-head" or much into the tech side of git-fiddles.... just have to play them! Putting one (trying to) back together now & kinda' got caught-up in all the hoopla of what to use. Reading Bill's account of explaining his single pickup equipt guitar put the "light" back on in my noggin'. His chain theory/ view is refreshing and accurate. I've just realized there is more than one way for the player to be the weakest link! No more screwdrivers & pliers for me...... only picks. Gittin' My Fiddle, Daniel Hi Becky, I emailed you last month, but never received a reply; I seemed to be having email difficulties for a couple of days after sending, and I know from your discussion board that you also had problems. I also appreciate how busy you must be! I'd like to order a pair of
J-45 pickups for my Jazz bass (standard Fender 4-string sizing).
I'm based in the UK, so I thought I'd better check with you how
much the shipping will be before Paypal-ing the order in. By my
calculations, the total cost will be $124.50, unless the shipping
costs have changed since my last order. This will be my second set
of J-45s; I bought a set from you earlier this year, and they are
now installed in my Warmoth/Moses home-build Jazz bass. They sound
really amazing, and it's made me realise that the pickups in my
other Jazz bass don't do it justice at all. I hope to hear from
you soon (although I understand how busy you must be. Best regards, _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi, Just wanted you to know I just tried out my new BL 290TLE in my 62 RI Tele. A friend sold me the pickup about a month ago and last weekend I got to try it out. I was skeptical about the pickup since I have been a Harmonic Design Vintage Plus user for years (in all my Teles), but decided to try something new & quiet. I played at a large weekend gig using my Tele with the 290TLE and I would have to say that this is one great sounding pickup. Not only was the 290TLE quiet, but it cut through the mix and had a nice Tele tone with some body to it. I am so impressed with the pickup that I may replace my other Tele pickups with BL pickups. Thanks for a great product. Kurt ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, I read on the web site that you guys are super busy with the move to the new facilities, but just wanted to resend this email... hope all is going well and you are getting caught up. I just had my Nashville Tele wired up, and the sound is amazing! Very smooth twang, and I am very pleased. One question - the pickup cover on the middle pickup, which is an L-280M, is a little darker than my pickguard, like it is antique white as opposed to white. No big deal, but I was just thinking, since the guitar is black, it might look better if the cover was black. How much would it cost to get one black L-280M cover? Also, for some reason the luthier that installed them lost one of the Tele bridge mounting screws and used a flat-head screw instead. Could I also purchase one Tele bridge pickup mounting screw? Thanks in advance for your help. I love the sound of my guitar! Rob _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, Thanks for the 290TL/280TN pups, they sound great. The guy who cut the nut for my parts tele--Danny Ott--exclaimed "Billy Lawrence always has made a good pickup--always a great value!". (He played my guitar a bit befoe I picked it up, and again for me when I showed up!) They are dead quiet and have plenty of twang. I don't know how you guys do it for what you charge. Again, much thanks. D.R. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Here's
a testimonial unlike all the others I read on your site. I just
recently (within 6 months) purchased a Wilde guitar from a shop
in Colorado Springs, CO. I had no idea what the guitar was, just
that I loved the sound and the feel of her. After taking her home,
trying a variety of amps, processors, digital and analog recordings
and the like, I decided she ranked easily with any of the other
fine old vintage instruments I use. I still had no idea what a "Wilde"
guitar was, but since made in the USA couldn't be all bad. And damn,
that tone! And no noise. And the wood, the obvious craftsmanship,
and did I mention the tone?! I finally availed myself of the 'net
(since I pay stupid amounts of money for full access, might as well
use it,eh?), advice from a friend who deals vintage instruments,
and began to realize what I had gotten my hands on for the price
of a 'fair quality' instrument. "Premium guitar? No way! For that
price? No way! YES way!" And so she holds a place in my collection
and in my heart. And frequently on stage! And in the studio! Her
serial number is 97 A 0020; any info you could send about this lovely
flame-topped showstopper would be greatly appreciated. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky!
I hope you remember me. I lived in Bethlehem PA and you built some
pickups for me. You may remember that I picked them up on my way
to Lancaster where my gig was. I installed them that night, after
the gig, and used them for the rest of the weekend. I was just checking out your website and see that you've followed me to California! I can't believe it! We are in the Bay Area, so a bit farther than before. Next time I'm in LA visiting friends, I'll have to see you. I recommend your pickups to everyone I meet (that cares) and have a link to you on my website. I couldn't be more happy. They are amazing. Best regards, Brandon _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Well, well - long time ......
Anyway - better late than never. I recieved the pu`s (L-280S) without
any shippingdelays... and I put them in my guitar very quickly afterwards
to try them out, - and they where great. (This was with the stock
pots/switch and wiring.) The improvement of the sound was significant.
But, to cut a long story shot: I don`t belive too much in my own
skills in soldering, and nor do I know much about electronics, but
I do know what good sound is to me. And I had this idea, that if
I optimized all the electronics on guitar (Mex Strat) alongside
the new pu`s, I might improve the overall soundquality futher more.
So I bought new quality pots/caps/resistors/wire/5-way-switch, shielded
the cavity (shieldingpaint) and the pickguard(foil). Then I called
in a friend of mine, who knows - at least I think so - anything
about soldering and electronics, to do the job right. We, - actually
my friend, I just made the coffee, - made this modification two
weeks ago. As I said before, the guitar sounded really great with
the stock electronics and the BL-pu`s. But I tell you, - now: WOW!!!
In my opinion your pu`s do deserve complimentary quality pots/switches/wiring.
This has lifted the sound to even higher levels. It`s hard to describe
sound in exact words, - especially in my english, - and in the end
it has a lot to do with personal taste. So I won`t bother you with
that. One thing I can put exact words on though: My guitar has never
before been so dynamic and responsive to play. It simply reacts
to everything I do... Finally,- I almost forgot: The noise, - or
the lack of. Before changing the stock-electronics (but with your
pu`s in) there was a little/some noise. This, I guess, may say more
about the stock-electronics (or my soldering) than your pu`s. After
the complete modification, the guitar only produces what it`s supposed
to - nice guitartones. My noise-test: Guitar plugged into amp, guitar-volume
zero, amp-volume max: I hear the noise from the amp. Then guitar-volume
turned to max and switching between the 3 pu`s: NO noise at all
added!!! The very best, I wish you the best in your
move. I'm still just continualy amazed at the tone and the SILENCE
of my pickups (NOS L-500n and , made for me, L-500xl). Everyone
who plays my axe cannot belive what comes out of my Heritage (LP
type). Still trying to comvince them to dump their old and get some
new for $100.00. Give or take. What also kills them is the LOOK
of the blades, with the chrome trim, on the pickup as well... kinda
looks racy on a black body... like a properly trimed Porshe or a
Mercedes coupe. Photographs of the chrome, you should include in
your little site. If you wish, I'll photograph some styly photos
of my axe with your pickups... just to make sure people have a proper
perspective of the look. If you like my shots, I can do more...
we can work out a trade. I beleve in your product and happily stand
by you guys. Always willing to what I can for TRUE artisans. Something
that Bill is... a pickup artist. But in the way of relation to a
guitar! ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky, I got the 2 L-500XL pups
finally! Phenominal!!!! Thanks again. Paul S. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Hello Becky and Bill- Been meaning to let you know
for quite some time how much I love my Bill Lawrence pickups (L-280TN
and L-280TL). I bought them direct from you about two years ago
(or longer?) for my beat-but-sweet '67 Telecaster. Their sound always
brings a smile to my face, way better than the stock pickups (and
any other Tele-style pickups I've ever heard including the ones
on my expensive Tom Anderson Hollow-T classic which I rarely play).
I'm not known as a guitar player, but I have made a couple of animated
feature films ("The Nightmare Before Christmas", "James and the
Giant Peach") and work with all sorts of musicians and composers.
I know great sound when I hear it and those pickups of yours are
supreme! ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Becky & Bill, ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Becky, Just wanted to say
thanks! I've just installed my new pickups (L-500R, L-280SM, L-500L,
Q-filter) in my homemade strat and they sound *incredible*. This
is the third guitar I've upgraded to BL pickups and I'm still amazed
every time I hear the results for the first time. Just when I think
I like the sound of a guitar you go and make it sound even better
:-) I'm happy to say that I will always choose Bill Lawrence pickups-
they're like no other. Thanks to you and Bill for
everything! Jason B. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Bill and Becky- |
